In 2017, a business without a well-designed website is like a cupcake without frosting, bland and boring. In today’s technology-driven world, a website is a must-have feature for businesses of all shapes and sizes. That being said, it’s not just a case of having any old website. Oh no, to build a successful business there are certain standards that must be met by businesses when it comes to their websites.
The problem is that a lot of business owners don’t know what it takes to create a successful business website. There’s a common misconception that a website is a website, but that’s not the case at all. If you want to ensure that your venture is for keeps, you need to avoid the mistakes mentioned below at all costs, because sooner or later they will come back to bite you.
Selecting the wrong hosting
An all too common website error that business owners make is selecting the wrong hosting. When you’re on a budget, it’s easy to put price above anything else. However, that shouldn’t be the case – when it comes to costs think of the long-term benefits, not the short-term ones. A cheap hosting deal might seem great but the chances are it means sharing an overloaded server, which will slow down your website and may even lead to it crashing. Is saving a few pennies really worth it? Surely, it’s better to spend a little more and get good quality, reliable hosting that will ensure your website runs smoothly and comes with a customized domain name? Your budget is important, but it’s also vital to understand that some things it’s okay to skimp on, and others it’s not.
Badly written content
If there’s one thing you really don’t want your website to include, it’s badly written content. This is because the content that’s on your website reflects your business, and if it’s badly written, this doesn’t create a great image. It’s also important that the content is written in a way that incorporates SEO and means that the site and each page shows up high in search engine rankings. It’s also important that it isn’t stuffed with keywords and phrases, else Google may penalize the site. For website (and business) success, well-written content is a must. If you’re not sure about how SEO works, it’s probably best to outsource the task.
Failing to take your target market into account
A crucial part of website design is ensuring that you take your target market into account. To be able to do this, you need to be willing to invest in market research, to determine what your target market is. This will take time to do, but it’s important, as once you know who your product or services appeal to, you can then tailor your website and content to that specific group of people, increasing your chances of success. Target market research can also be used to aid your marketing, social media posting, and a range of other important factors that come with running a business.
If you are serious about making a success of your venture, it’s important to take note of the advice above, so that you don’t make these fatal web design mistakes.
